HAVANA (AP) — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the head of the country's leftist FARC rebels agreed Thursday on a cease-fire and rebel disarmament deal that moves the country to the brink of ending a 52-year war that has left more than 220,000 people dead.

At a ceremony in Havana, Santos and FARC commander Rodrigo Londono, better known as Timochenko, watched as their lead negotiators signed a deal laying out how 7,000 rebel fighters will demobilize and hand over their weapons once a peace accord is implemented. In attendance were U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a special U.S. envoy and the presidents of Cuba, Chile and Venezuela and other Latin American countries.

In the Colombian capital, Bogota, hundreds of people watched the ceremony broadcast live on a giant screen, hugging each other, signing the national anthem and waving the Colombian flag as the two sides signed the deal. Some cried.

Don't count on a "cease fire". Another view of the countryside ...Raped for speaking out against rape
EXCERPT:
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Like one in every 10 Colombians, she has become a refugee in her own country. Nearly seven million people have been uprooted and more than 220,000 killed since 1964 when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), took up arms against the state to demand social equality and land reform. And although the Farc has agreed a ceasefire and there is a hope for an end to the insurgency, other armed groups, including right-wing paramilitaries, still terrorise large areas of the country.
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Officially these right-wing militias no longer exist. They were demobilised a decade ago but many have resurfaced or mutated into criminal gangs. Originally under an umbrella group, the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) or United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, they were financed by landowners and drug traffickers, who wanted protection against kidnappings and extortion carried out by left-wing guerrillas.
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According to Hector Fabio Henao, a Catholic bishop who played a leading role in the peace process between the Colombian government and the Farc, armed groups are increasingly targeting people like Maria, who speak out against them, or champion causes that conflict with their interests.

In one four-week period earlier this year, 13 human rights activists, environmental campaigners and community leaders from indigenous tribes were assassinated, he says.

Last year one was being murdered every five days. The killers included members of paramilitary groups, criminal gangs and the ELN (National Liberation Army) - left-wing guerrillas who unlike Farc have not agreed a ceasefire.
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"People involved in drug trafficking and illegal gold mining don't want people around trying to protect the environment," says Msgr Henao. "They don't want people who speak up for the indigenous population or people who denounce sexual violence, so they control the population with private armies."
...http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37107399

__________________Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses.TANSTAAFL = There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free LunchBock's First Law of History: The Past shapes the Present, which forms the Future. *

Well a number of the FARC leaders are pretty old now. Could be just worn out.

By Marc Frank

Quote:

HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia's government peace negotiators hit back on Thursday at critics of a deal to end half a century of war with leftist FARC guerrillas, saying the cost of bringing the rebel fighters into society was much lower than spending on the conflict.